100 Interesting Facts about Africa – Part 2

Ancient Egypt was formed from the unification of Upper and Lower Egypt around 3000 BC, and the pharaohs wore a double crown, with one-half, the White Crown, representing Upper Egypt, and the other half, the Red Crown, representing Lower Egypt.

77. The first documented cases of cancer were found on papyrus manuscripts in Egypt dating back to 3000 BC. In these manuscripts, 8 cases of breast tumors are mentioned that were removed by cauterization with a tool called the fire drill. The writing says about the disease, “There is no treatment.”

78. In 2009, a Polish woman filed a lawsuit against a hotel in Egypt after claiming that sperm in the swimming pool got her 13-year-old daughter pregnant.

79. The oldest surviving pair of cloth socks were found in Egypt were actually designed to wear with sandals.

80. In 1798, Napolean Bonaparte's invasion of Egypt brought a team of 160 scientists, astronomers, engineers, architects, artists, interpreters, and printers to record and document what he found.

The last ruling king of Egypt, King Farouk once had a nightmare about lions attacking him and decided to go to the Cairo zoo and shoot two lions while they were in their cages.

82. There are more pyramids in one small section of the northern Sudanese desert than there are in the whole of Egypt.

83. The ancient Egyptians measured the flood levels of the Nile and levied taxes according to how high water levels were. If the water level indicated there would be a strong harvest, taxes would be higher.

84. The Egyptian word for cat is Mau and is pronounced 'Meow'

85. Immediately after the founding of Israel on May 14, 1948, before their defense force was even founded, five Arab nations (Egypt, Iraq, Syria, Lebanon, and Jordan) declared war on it

The first pregnancy tests on record were in Ancient Egypt. Women would pee on a field of wheat and barley. If the wheat sprouted, it was going to be a girl. If the barley sprouted, it was going to be a boy. If neither sprouted, the woman wasn't pregnant.

87. One of the first examples of monotheism in history was in Egypt. Akhenaten attempted to change from the traditional faith to sole worship of the sun god Aten.

88. In Egyptian Mythology the God Horus claims dominance over Egypt by feeding his semen on lettuce to his uncle Set

89. Tolkien's "The Hobbit" was translated into Hebrew by Israeli combat pilots trying to pass the time while being imprisoned in Egypt, and their translation is considered the superior of two versions.

90. When a cat died in Ancient Egypt, their human family would go into a deep mourning and shave their eyebrows.

During a visit to Egypt in 2012, Hillary Clinton was pelted with tomatoes and shoes, while the protesters chanted "Monica, Monica"

92. Inscribed pottery from the Middle Kingdom of Egypt list three human genders.

93. Augustus Caesar had a net worth of $4.6 trillion and he even owned Egypt.

94. Cleopatra of Egypt was of Greek descent and she was the first in her dynasty who could speak Egyptian

95. In a 2008 survey, 62% of Egyptian men freely admitted perpetrating sexual harassment, with 98% of foreign women claiming they had experienced harassment

The last descendant of the ancient Egyptian language, Coptic, died as a spoken language by the 1600s. It has survived until today as the language of religious services of Egypt's 10% Christian minority-the Copts. The alphabet uses Greek letters plus extra letters deriving from hieroglyphics

97. The effects of the Icelandic volcano Laki killed 25% of the Icelandic population, at least 23,000 people in Britain, more deaths in Europe, freak weather for a year, and may have caused a famine in Egypt which killed 1/6th of Egypt's population.

98. In 1913, the first practical thermal solar 'power plant' was built in Egypt, it generated power using polished steel to focus the sunlight. Unfortunately, World War 1 broke out and the power plant was abandoned due to the conflict in the area and oil became a much more attractive energy source.

99. Dreamworks punished struggling animators who were working on Prince of Egypt by sending them to work on Shrek.

100. A 4,500-year-old Construction Logbook of the Great Pyramid was Found in 2013. It reports on the making and shipping of limestone blocks and the everyday life of workers.